Should you use social media at work?

If you are helplessly staring at possible missed deadlines or imminent rebuke from your boss, then it possibly isn’t the right time to advise you to contemplate. However, if you do not contemplate you will not really be able unearth the reason behind your repeated failure to maintain deadlines. You may not realize but it might be your productivity which is to be blamed.

The “connect” between social media and reduced productivity has been established

Talking about workplace productivity, let us tell you that one of the biggest factors affecting the same is the use of social media at work. Yes, social media may have emerged as the biggest branding tool for businesses today. However, its unrestricted usage will only end up harming productivity as per latest studies.

TeamLease has brought out its World of Work Report, as per which around 32% of your time spent on social media during your work hours is actually for personal work rather than for business purposes. This accounts for major loss of official work. What more? Social media activities alone result in the loss 13% of work productivity.

Let us tell you that the extent of harm done by the “thoughtless” use of social media at workplace is presumably unimaginable. The truth is, excessive use of social networking has also led to the loss of confidential information, misinformation, defamation and employee solicitation.

No prizes for guessing, Facebook remains the most accessed social networking channel at workplace. It has been found that around 62% of the employees access social media at workplace and around 83% of them access Facebook – mostly.

What should you do?

So, the next time you go about spending “quality” time chatting away with friends at work, do remember the findings of this particular study. You may love to live in a state of denial – thinking that there’s nothing which is eating away your productivity but do remember what we have pointed out here.

You might as well think that it’s okay to browse Facebook at work after every hour or so for just a “few” minutes. However, let us tell you that these few minutes often escalate to half an hour or more in certain cases. Don’t let your productivity be affected by social networking at work. Start working on your habit of browsing social networking channels at work. Self-restraint is key to workplace success.

It’s just a matter of few days until staying away from these social channels during work hours becomes a habit.